According to this, witnesses say it took about 20 minutes for the fire to spread from the lower floors to the entire building! Thank god the place wasn't occupied. Shame about the government crackdown-as-usual on reportage, for all the good it does.

According to this, witnesses say it took about 20 minutes for the fire to spread from the lower floors to the entire building! Thank god the place wasn't occupied.

Yes, but in the Chinasmack report there were workers in the building. Still, it could have been a lot worse fatality-wise. One always has to wonder about Chinese building materials and standards, even though it was foreign designed. 40 stories to go up so fast is mind boggling.

Some netizens said witnesses originally could see some flashlights shining out of the windows of the CCTV building trying to get help. However, as the fire burned, there were fewer and fewer flashlights. In the end, there were no more flashlights.

dleedlee wrote:Yes, but in the Chinasmack report there were workers in the building. Still, it could have been a lot worse fatality-wise. One always has to wonder about Chinese building materials and standards, even though it was foreign designed. 40 stories to go up so fast is mind boggling.

Some netizens said witnesses originally could see some flashlights shining out of the windows of the CCTV building trying to get help. However, as the fire burned, there were fewer and fewer flashlights. In the end, there were no more flashlights.

You have to wonder if building materials will come into play at some point. Even assuming this building didn't have its sprinkler system up and running just yet (since no one had "moved in", so to speak), it still seems odd that the place wasn't designed in a way that potential fires could be contained to a minimal number of floors, or that flames would develop slowly enough for firefighters to gain some control. Who knows, maybe it was designed that way, but the materials didn't quite conform to the designs. It should be interesting to see what comes out in the investigation, assuming it gets shared. Godzilla might end up being the preferable culprit after all . . .

Beijing Fire Control Bureau has confirmed that a senior official of the office of the CCTV new headquarters construction project hired people, without any reference to superiors, to illegally set off fireworks, which caused the fire, according to the statement.

dleedlee wrote:Beijing Fire Control Bureau has confirmed that a senior official of the office of the CCTV new headquarters construction project hired people, without any reference to superiors, to illegally set off fireworks, which caused the fire, according to the statement.